CLEVELAND, Ohio — Years after Art Modell moved the Browns to Baltimore, he'd sit in his owners' suite when the Browns were in town and belly laugh with visitors from Cleveland about the good ol' days.

Those trips down memory lane, which included impressions of Modell that he howled over, were some of his happiest moments in Baltimore -- especially in the later years, when his body was feeble and his mind was fading.

"They were hugely significant," said Ravens Senior Vice President Kevin Byrne, who also spent 15 years with Modell in Cleveland. "It made him sit up taller, made him more alert. ... He cherished those moments."

Modell, who owned the Browns from 1961 to 1995 and the Ravens from 1996 to 2004, died Thursday morning of natural causes at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, where he was surrounded by his adopted sons John and David. He was 87.

Doug Dieken remembers Art ModellDoug Dieken, who played 14 years for the Cleveland Browns under Art Modell, remembers him as a great boss. Modell, who moved the team to Baltimore in 1995, died early this morning in a Baltimore hospital.

As of Thursday, the Browns had no plans to acknowledge Modell's death at Sunday's home opener against Philadelphia.

"I don't think they should," Byrne said. "There's still too much anger from too many people."

Those who know Modell, who had been suffering from congestive heart failure and other health problems for years, said he had never been the same since his wife Pat -- whom he referred to as "the actress" from her soap opera days -- died in October. In a statement from David on Thursday, he said his father "finally rejoined the absolute love of his life, my mother Pat Modell."

But others know he was also never the same after announcing on Nov. 6, 1995, that he was moving his second true love -- the Cleveland Browns -- to Baltimore. Although Modell embraced the Ravens and his new community, the move tore him apart.

"There was a lingering sadness, no doubt," Byrne said. "I think he truly felt for the fans that he let them down, because he couldn't make it work. He often second-guessed himself and said, 'Maybe I should've gone public with all the missed deadlines and broken promises.' "

Byrne said Pat Modell, Art's wife of 43 years, was a driving force behind Modell's decision.

"Pat clearly encouraged him to leave Cleveland," Byrne said. "She was upset and bitter about the treatment Art was receiving from politicians and some members of the media. She would say, 'Art, they just don't care. They don't care what you've done for the Cleveland Clinic. They don't care that you've gone to the playoffs seven out of 10 times in the '80s. You should go have a meeting with Baltimore.' "

Byrne said: "Right up until the end, Modell would always respond, 'No, they'll find a way to get it done.' But it snowballed, and in the end, it became personal. He felt he had to do it."

The day the announcement was made, Modell acknowledged: "This has been a very, very tough road for my family and me. I leave my heart and part of my soul in Cleveland. But frankly, it came down to a simple proposition: I had no choice."

Public Enemy No. 1

Modell, one of the NFL's pioneers and innovators, once told the New York Daily News: "Let me put this in perspective: I didn't give up 35 years of my life, where I was part of everything that went on in Cleveland, because I happen to like crab cakes. I moved for a legitimate reason. It was tough."

From the moment he delivered the crushing blow, Modell became public enemy No. 1 in Cleveland, a spot he never relinquished, even when LeBron James took his talents to South Beach. The threats on Modell's life were so numerous that he traveled with armed bodyguards and never showed his face in his adopted hometown again, a fact that deeply saddened him.

"It hurt Art a lot that he could never go back to Cleveland," Byrne said. "He was deeply involved with the Cleveland Clinic [as president], and he could never go back there. He built the Hospice of the Western Reserve, and he couldn't go back there. All of his friends were there. But Art would admit, 'I did that, and I did it to my wife.' "

Modell died knowing he'd always be reviled in Cleveland, the city he adopted in 1961 when he purchased the Browns.

"I have a great legacy, tarnished somewhat by the move," he said in 1999. "The politicians and the bureaucrats saw fit to cover their own rear ends by blaming it on me."

Years after the move, in 2004, Modell revealed to a group of reporters that he was about to go bankrupt in Cleveland.

"I'll tell you one thing which I've never said before at any time," he said. "If I didn't move my team to Baltimore, my family would've gone to bankruptcy. I had to [move]. I couldn't afford it. You declare bankruptcy in the NFL, and it's an automatic revocation of your license. They strip you of the ballclub."

Modell insisted he didn't sell the team to good friend and minority owner Al Lerner because he wanted to pass it along to his sons. As it was, his debt continued to climb in Baltimore to an estimated $185 million, and he was forced to sell the Ravens anyway. Stephen Bisciotti, a Baltimore entrepreneur, purchased a minority share in 1999 for $275 million and assumed complete ownership in 2004 for an additional $325 million, leaving Modell an honorary 1 percent stake.

No regrets

But Modell, who survived two major heart surgeries and a life-threatening staph infection shortly after the move, was still majority owner when he hoisted the gleaming Lombardi Trophy after the 2000 season, another dagger in the heart of Browns fans.

"I don't look back with any regrets," Modell said during Super Bowl week. "I'm grateful for my life. My life was nip and tuck too many times, and I was able to survive. I live for my family -- my wife, my sons, their wives and, above all, my grandchildren."

He took some consolation over the years in the fact that he left the Browns' name and colors in Cleveland.

"I feel no vindication," he said after the Super Bowl victory. "I'm simply delighted, on behalf of my family, ecstatic that there is a football team in Cleveland called the Cleveland Browns, and they wear uniforms with seal brown and burnt orange colors, and they have the legacy of Jim Brown and Otto Graham and dozens of others, and above all, playing in a new stadium."

Hall of Fame?

It was the move to Baltimore that ultimately cost Modell a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame during his lifetime. A finalist in 2002, he made it to the list of 15. But at that point, candidates are presented to selectors, and Modell failed to make the cut to 10. Modell, who was also a semifinalist (final 25) in seven seasons between 2004 and 2011, is currently on the preliminary list of 75 candidates for the Class of 2013.

"In many ways, I think he does [belong in the Hall]," said former Browns left tackle Doug Dieken. "The money the players get today is a direct part of what he did [negotiating television contracts]. He won a championship here in '64 and won one with the Ravens. It probably wouldn't be a popular move here, but at some point, hopefully we win a championship and people will forget."

It's unclear if Modell's death will effect his chance of selection to the Hall.

"I don't know if it will have any real effect," said Joe Horrigan, vice president-communications/exhibits for the Hall of Fame and an NFL historian. "We ask selectors to vote based on a person's accomplishments throughout his career, so they'll determine he's either deserving or not. More so than his death, I think the passage of time will be a factor."

Hall of Fame voter Gary Myers of the New York Daily News, who has voted the past three seasons, said he'll vote for Modell anytime he's on the ballot.

"One owner, Al Davis, moved his team twice, and he's in the Hall of Fame," said Myers. "You can make the case that Art's contribution to the league are as profound as Al Davis'."

Former Colts General Manager Bill Polian said Wednesday, "The criteria is, can you write the history of the league without this person? And you can't write it without Art Modell."

The Modell legacy

Modell is widely credited with helping to increase the NFL's popularity through his work as chairman of the NFL's Television Committee from 1962 to '93. During his tenure, NFL TV contracts set the standard and records for the highest in sports history. He was the only elected NFL president in league history, serving in that capacity from 1967 to '69.

"Art Modell's leadership was an important part of the NFL's success during the league's explosive growth during the 1960s and beyond," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. "As the longtime chairman of the league's Broadcast Committee, Art was a visionary who understood the critical role that mass view of NFL games on broadcast television could play in growing the league. Art played important roles in many other league matters as a key adviser to [former commissioners] Pete Rozelle and Paul Tagliabue, and also built championship teams in Cleveland and Baltimore."

In 1970, he helped spawn ABC's "Monday Night Football" and volunteered to host the first game, a 31-21 victory over Joe Namath and the Jets.

In Cleveland, he was first vilified for firing the legendary Paul Brown but then somewhat vindicated when he won the 1964 world championship, the most recent time a Cleveland team has won a title. He wasn't in favor of cutting quarterback Bernie Kosar in 1993 but publicly supported coach Bill Belichick's decision to do it.

At the time, Browns fans thought it was the worst thing Modell could ever do.

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